Digital Strategy for
ARIES
OVERVIEW
Team: Christopher Dacol, Julia Melo, Nithin Thomas, Anastasiia Kukhar, Victoria Jin
​
Roles: UX Designer and Researcher, Content Strategist
Duration: Sept 2017 - Jan 2018
What is ARIES?
Full form of ARIES: "Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Services"
ARIES is a research and innovation wing of Centennial College that focuses heavily on entrepreneurship. Under ARIES there are four subdivisions like Applied Research and Innovation Centre (ARIC), the Centre of Entrepreneurship (COE), Interactive, and Mobile Technology Access centre for Health (WIMTACH) and ACCEL. ARIES is into high tech innovation and research, and students are working on technologies like 3D Printing, Wearable technology and robotics in their state of the art labs.
And we got an opportunity to work with the Executive Director of ARIES at Centennial College Dr Deepak Gupta, who needed help with creating a cohesive and consistent web presence for ARIES and its subdivisions.
From left to right Victoria Jin, Anastasia Kukhar, Julia Melo, Milan Patel, Dr.Deepak Gupta, Chris Dacol
THE PROBLEM
ARIES has a great reputation and strong connection with big industries and tech companies around Ontario like AMD, Bombardier and Prodigy. But when it came to digital presence they are missing cohesive identity and consistency. Each centre has it's own voice and tone, and because of that users are confused and conflicted.
And it was our job to create a digital strategy that will provide a cohesive and consistent web presence for ARIES and its subdivisions.
So we have done UX research and developed the digital strategy for ARIES and here is our process...
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
User Personas
After researching and gathering information about the users of the ARIES websites, six primary personas have been developed. Each of these personas has unique user motivations, expectations, and goals. Personas help define what users need and want, thus providing information about the types of content needed for an improved user experience.
Content Audit
A content audit was conducted for all of the web properties under ARIES (ARIC, COE and ACCEL, and WIMTACH). This audit included both quantitative documentation as well as qualitative analyses of the content and its usefulness for the users. A number of common issues that appear across all of the websites have been identified.
Competitive Analysis
After doing the detailed analysis of the content on ARIES websites the ARIES websites were compared to the websites of five college and university research and/or innovation centres, consisting of Mohawk College, Niagara College, York University, Fanshawe College, and Algonquin College. Through this analysis, competitive advantages and opportunities for improvement for ARIES have been identified.
We compared these websites based on the following criteria:
-
Ease of finding information
-
Clear navigation
-
Relevance of information.
Usability Testing
To better understand users problem and the frustrations with current websites, our team conducted one-on-one usability testing sessions with students on campus(because they are our target persona).
User testing involved moderated test sessions where users were given specific tasks to complete on the websites. Observations regarding user experiences with the ARIES sites were documented, in addition to participants’ own comments and feedback during the process.
Based on the feedback and our analysis of users, we created User Narratives, new information architectures for all the websites and also new content structures and writing guidelines.
Our team planning Usability Tests
CREATE / DESIGN
User Narratives
User narratives are informal descriptions, written from the users’ perspective, that detail what users expect from an ideal user experience on the websites. It maps user requirements and provides greater insight into users’ needs. They do not dictate design but rather illustrate what users would ideally expect to experience on their journey.
Information Architecture
Information architecture (IA) is the foundation of how content is structured and connected. We created new IA from scratch, which would create better pathways and improve structural logic for the content on the ARIES websites.
​
We printed out all the labels on current websites and spread out them on the table so that everyone all can see and restructure them.​
You can see in the example below there were 12 categories under "About ARIC" and we restructured and regroup them into 3 categories which will make it easier for the user to navigate.
Wireframing
Wireframes are blueprints of final websites. The wireframes have been created based on all of the current state analysis and by keeping the needs of the users in mind. They unify the current pages and display elements in a more clear and straightforward manner. If implemented, the ARIES websites would increase in efficiency, clarity, and usability. An example of the main ARIES homepage, at three breakpoints (screen sizes), is pictured below.
Content Structures and Writing Guidelines
After recreating the structures of websites through wireframing, we developed content structures and writing guidelines ensure that the content remains consistent across all of the ARIES web properties. When the content is consistent, users are able to find the information they are looking for easily and clearly, contributing to a smooth user journey and experience.
Example of Content Structure and Writing Guidelines
DELIVER
For our final deliverable, we created the summary document that includes all the findings from our research design process. This final strategy will help Centennial's Digital team in the process of implementation, it will serve them as a guide.
REFLECTION
Our team has won the 2018 Learning-Centred College Award for our work on ARIES Digital Strategy. And they have started implementing it in their next update of Centennial College's website and it has shown some promising results in engagement and user experience. And it is really great to see that our work is making difference in the real world.
